Culture and Dignity

Laura Nader is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. An influential voice in contemporary anthropology, Laura Nader’s books include Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge (1996), The Life of the Law (2002), and, with Ugo Mattei, Plunder–When the Rule of Law is Illegal (2008).

“This kind of work needs more deliberation in the academic world and it is a delight for practitioners who are interested in radicalising the discipline and practice of anthropology.  Since the book eschews technical language of the specialist, it is equally accessible to the nonspecialist reader.”  (Journal of Intercultural Studies, 1 January 2015)“The book is written in an engaging and highly accessible manner. Although it would have benefited from a deeper differentiated discussion of ‘cultural dignity’ and what it means in this world that Nader paints, Culture and dignity is a thought-provoking exercise in the kind of connections we need to make for an anthropology committed to a more honest and robust knowledge of the Middle East and the world.”  (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1 January 2014)“Drawing from an eclectic sample of literature dealing with the global connections between the Middle East and the West, the author achieves a much needed – and very timely – intellectual ‘check-up’ and warns us against cultural framings that serve to side-line serious explorations of the roots and nature of human suffering. It is crucial for all those of us who are genuinely concerned with peace to liberate our imaginations from the myths and stereotypes that work to divide us.”  (Studies in Ethnicity And Nationalism, 15 October  2013)“The collection reflects the many lasting contributions Nader has made to understanding and improving the human condition. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.”  (Choice, 1 July 2013)

• Acknowledgments x Preface xii1 Introduction 1Indignities 5Naturalizing Difference and the Great Transformation 14Comparison, Ethnography, and History 172 From Rifa’ ah al-Tahtawi to Edward Said: Lessons in Culture and Dignity 24Introduction 24Rifa’ ah al-Tahtawi and France 26A Hundred Years Later: Edward Said 34Concluding Comments 453 Ethnography as Theory: On the Roots of Controversy in Anthropology 51Introduction 51Unstated Consensus 54Defining Ethnographic Worth: 1896–2000 55Ethnographic Audiences 64An Outsider Looking In on Anthropology’s Ethnography 69Concluding Comments 744 Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Control of Women 80Cultural Hierarchy and Processes of Control 83The Specifi city of Eastern and Western Grids 85Positional Superiority, Thought Systems, and Other Cultures 87Ways of Seeing and Comparing – East and West 88The Controlling Role of Ideas 96The Use of Revolution in Gender Control 98Multiple Systems of Female Subordination 102Colonialism, Development, Religion, and Gender Control 107Conclusion: The Need to Separate Identities 1105 Corporate Fundamentalism: Constructing Childhood in the United States and Elsewhere 120Introduction 120Manufacturing Culture Bit by Bit 122Fundamentalisms: Corporate and Religious 126Marketing and Children: The United States 131Drugs, Commercialism, and the Biomedical Paradigm: An American Example 137When Corporate Profits and Education Meet: The Educational Testing Industry 140Fundamentalisms: Economic, Religious, Political 141Back to Corporate Fundamentalism: Future Directions 1446 Culture and the Seeds of Nonviolence in the Middle East 151Introduction 151Disharmonic Westernization and Pilgrimage 154Between the Stereotype and Reality 157Little Worlds in the International Grip 161Culture and Nonviolence: Who Stands to Gain From Peace? 165Dignity Becomes Reality 1687 Normative Blindness and Unresolved Human Rights Issues: The Hypocrisy of Our Age 175Introduction 175Early Constraints 176Unresolved Issues 178A Nonstate Human Rights Effort 183Health and Human Rights 186Human Rights and Commercialism 191Concluding Remarks 1938 Breaking the Silence: Politics and Professional Autonomy 197Introduction 197Silence and Dominant Hegemonies 198Desensitization 204Mistakes Repeated in the Iraq Invasion 2069 Lessons 212Lessons Learned 212Strategies of Subordination – In Reverse 216Macro-histories 221Appendix 226Index 230